Sentiment
by Emily Byrd Starr
Summary: Loki has been in a SHIELD's prison for the past two years. Fury has made a decision, but now it's time for Loki to decide what he wants. Chaos unleashes, and it's time for everyone to learn a few things about themselves. Tasertricks, post Winter Soldier, kind of an AU.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: If you can recognize something, it's because I don't own it. Pity.**_

 _Hey! So, this is something new for me. English is not my mother tongue, so there may be mistakes and weird things. Either way, I'm open to any suggestions and corrections, or if there's any Beta Reader who wants to help me, I'd appreciate it (a lot)._

 _The story has a plot but I can include your requests._

 _Enjoy the reading as I enjoyed the writing!_

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Loki sighed. He was bored. Greatly bored. He toyed with the food on his plate, without actually eating it. He was all too aware of the look of the infamous Natasha Romanoff behind the mirrored glass. No one knew he could see through the glass.

Every day, for at least an hour, she stood there to watch. Then she wrote a report and gave it to Nick Fury, who took it Valhalla knows where.

What she wrote in the report, he couldn't tell. He was careful not to make any suspicious movement, nothing to indicate that he could still handle half of his magic. Oh yes, he could escape that Midgardian prison in no time. But he didn't want to. He had been SHIELD's perfect prisoner for the past two years.

Ever since Thor realized that it was him and not Odin who was sitting on the throne of Asgard. Two years isolated in that stupid glass box.

As bored as when he was infact ruling over Asgard. Satisfaction wasn't in his nature. He had said that once upon a time.

His days were exactly the same. In the morning all the lights came on suddenly and he usually spent the "daylight" hours sitting, lost in thought or reading. The food appeared three times, brought in by different SHIELD agents each time. At night all the lights went out. It was then that the nightmares started.

Only the concealment spell he had placed in his cell and was activated in the dark prevented the surveillance cameras to record his jerky movements, his cries and his awakening. He was awake almost the entire night, eyes wide open in the absolute darkness surrounding him, scared to death of the nightmares. Nightmares that had been his reality in the past. When Thor finally realized his lie, he returned to Asgard, rescued his father, stopped him, and delivered him to SHIELD.

Loki should have killed Odin.

He should have killed Thor too, but he chose to trust him never coming to Asgard again. Same mistake, twice. Unforgivable.

Natasha Romanoff was not the only one who watched him wasting his time in that cell. Almost all the "Avengers" had been there at some point.

Thor, however, had not.

Neither Dr. Banner.

Stark had appeared once, accompanied by a mortal who apparently was his partner, and she was the one who did all the surveillance.

Agent Barton watched him three times a week.

Suddenly the cold voice of Romanoff snapped him out of his thoughts. He could not help moving his eyes towards the voice, staring straight at her through the glass. "You have a visitor, Odinson." Natasha smiled with superiority, realizing that he was watching. Loki looked at the door and pressed his lips. Odinson. That was not his name. Never was. The door opened and Loki raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. Four people entered the room.

"Loki. We have come to negotiate your freedom." Thor said, his features showing no sign of pity towards him, his voice toneless. After two years he was still the same great "brother" that he tried to equal countless times. Loki could not help but grin. Thor never gave up, not even now, knowing his true origins and having experienced more than once all the damage he could cause. "Freedom." Loki tasted the word in his tongue. He felt nothing. "Freedom does not exist, but go on. I want to know the terms of our potential agreement." He said, smirking. "You help us, we free you. You betray us, you go back to this cell and die here. It may take several years, but eventually you will die and the world will be finally free of you." Snapped Fury. His eye was staring at him in distrust. He was the smart one, then. "What could you need my help with?" Loki asked, suddenly curious. "And what makes you think that I will help you?"

"Well, there's the fact that you have been acting quite nice for the past two years, and the fact that we know you can use magic in here but you haven't, and also the fact that your magic could be used for something good." Answered Thor. "We are giving you the chance to help and mend some past mistakes. We could torture you and kill you, but Fury thinks you could be useful. Take it or leave it." Jane Foster said then, her aggressive tone not matching her tense and fearful posture. Thor was slightly in front of her, ready to protect her against any suspicious movement on Loki's part. Loki didn't answer right away.

"The guy obviously doesn't want to cooperate, can we leave now? I'm cold and I want some coffee." Intervened a fourth voice. Loki jerked his head up at the voice and a young woman held his gaze, completely indifferent.

"Darcy, would you shut up? You've been saying the entire day that you don't want to be here, and we understand, but, we need to negotiate."

"Yeah well, he's not up to any of our offers, and I'm bored…"

"That's enough, agent Lewis." Nick Fury looked at him one more time. "Collaborate with us, and we will free you from this cell in no time. You will learn how to blend yourself on Earth, and you will not have to be here forever, this time without your magic." The silence stretched out between them. Loki was considering it, no matter how he hated himself for doing so. He certainly did not want to spend the rest of his life in there, and Fury was implying that they knew all along he could use his magic to escape. He needed motivation to do things, and they were offering him one. Alright, they wanted him to be the good guy… but he could have some fun at the same time. "See? He's not going to cooperate. Let's get the fuck out of here and I'll buy food for everyone." Agent Lewis said, her tone matter-of-factly.

"That is IT, agent Lewis." Nick Fury was done. Darcy opened her eyes in surprise, they were not patient with her today. Fury looked back at him. "If you say yes, we will give you our protection against any threats, too. I've heard there are lots of…beings outside who want you dead." It was true. Not only Thanos, but a lot of agents, and even some Asgardians wanted him dead. Sif and the Warriors Three, for a start. He could play the good guy game, he had played it before. He was bloody playing it in that moment. His smirk grew wider, turning into a full disturbing smile. Agent Lewis whistled, and then she muttered something about the big mistake they were making trying to make the god of Lies cooperate with something. He directed his smile at her, making her jump in her spot.

"Fine. Free me, and I shall help you." He said, still grinning widely.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't anything you recognize. I'm sorry too.**

 _Well, it seems I am inspired with this story. Let me know what you think, please! I need your reviews like I need oxygen to breathe. I apologize for any mistakes you can find._

Enjoy it!

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Darcy looked around her. Her office was in perfect condition now, and she was slightly tired. She had been cleaning the place the entire morning. She turned on the computer and put some music, dancing a little on her way to the chair behind her desk.

She poured herself a nice cup of hot coffee, the fourth that day, and she was drinking it when the door opened and Jane entered, looking upset. Darcy raised her eyebrows, wondering what was wrong with her friend. Jane slumped on the little couch that Darcy had managed to get into her office without Fury's knowledge.

"Hey, you should knock instead of breaking in without warning. Who knows what you would find me doing in that couch one of these days." She said, smiling to Jane.

Her words caused no effect. Jane still looked upset, and slightly afraid, as if she wanted to say something but didn't know where to start.

"Look…" Jane hesitated. "I wanted to warn you about… You-know-who."

"Voldemort? You can say his name, he's dead anyways. He managed to kill himself, remember?" Darcy laughed at her own joke. Still, Jane's expression remained worried.

"No. Loki. He's… not well. I think he is completely crazy, and I think Fury has made an awful decision. All I can say is sorry, Darce."

Now Darcy was dumbfounded.

"Sorry for what, exactly?" She asked. "Yeah, Fury is releasing the devil inside SHIELD, or at least a dangerous psycho, but that's his choice and I don't see how it's going to affect us…unless Thor plans on getting to know his little not-brother again and repair their relationship. And believe me, you would be in trouble then, not me. I'm not planning on making friends with that guy. Like, ever. As a matter of fact, I think…" Her rambling was interrupted by Jane, who was on full-crisis-mode.

"Are you saying that you haven't talked to Fury yet?" She asked, her voice trembling with fear.

Darcy stared at her, denying slowly. Fury was looking for her? What had she done?

"Nope. I've been here the entire morning, and no one has required my presence anywhere. I've even cleaned this place, as you can see, because I was seriously bored."

In that moment, someone knocked on the door. Jane rose quickly from the couch.

"Come on in." Said Darcy, still looking at Jane, full of questions. An agent opened the door and said, his face completely expressionless:

"Agents Lewis? Colonel Fury is waiting for you in his office."

"W-well… let's go, then. Will you escort me or something?" Darcy asked. She didn't know the way to Fury's office.

"I will." He wasn't looking at her, as if he was a robot. Darcy rolled her eyes. Okay, if he wanted to act all professional, she would let him. She rose from her chair and turned the music off. She waved her hand in Jane's direction. Her friend was still looking at her, almost pleadingly. Darcy wondered why. She guessed she was about to find out.

Darcy had always hated SHIELD's hallways. They were all gloomy and lifeless. She felt like a prisoner in them.

That's why she preferred her office, she thought. Her office was always warm and inviting, and she kept it that way on purpose. Jane always went there when she had problems, and also Thor, and even Steve had been there once. Tony was a regular, and he always made sure to leave funny stuff for her to read, or to see. Like magazines with him on the cover. Or photoshopped pictures of him and Steve. Or weird pieces of tech with crazy behaviour. Seriously, she had to be careful with those.

Darcy smiled when she remembered Tony. They were friends, he had helped her during her basic training when they started to work for SHIELD (not that she and Jane had a lot of choice either, SHIELD could be really persuasive) and Darcy chose to start using her degree in Political Science for something significant. So, Ian-dickhead was now Jane's intern, and Darcy could do something she really liked, instead of hearing Jane's craziness the entire day. Not that she didn't love her friend, but she didn't understand the first word about science.

But, at first, it had been hard. Agents were really cold and they didn't really care about her, or about knowing each other at all. Darcy had hated each and every one of them, until Tony showed up and told her that they were like that because they weren't allowed to socialize too much with her until she decided to be a permanent SHIELD's member.

Tony had become her big brother, just like Thor. He protected her and he had made her laugh when she was worried she was never going to find friends among the agents. Finally, her basic training finished, she chose to be a SHIELD's agent permanently and the other agents suddenly transformed themselves into humans again.

That did not mean they were one big happy family, but at least she got to know two of them, and they were a nice team.

"Here we are." Said the agent, pointing at a black door. She nodded and the agent left, leaving her alone.

"Alright, Darcy, now it's time to face this shit and get over it. Fury can't be that bad, can he?" She thought for herself, and knocked the door.

"Come on in, agent." she heard on the other side, and she entered the room.

Fury's office was…black. And full of tech. That was the first thing Darcy thought about the place in which they directed every single movement agents made all around the world. Fury was sitting behind a big dark desk, with a lot of papers on top of it, and all of him emanated power. Maybe it wasn't too late to start running and get a job at McDonald's, right?

"Good afternoon, agent Lewis." Nick Fury's voice interrupted her internal monologue. Too late. Farewell, McDonald's.

"Good afternoon, Colonel Fury." She said, without hesitation. Yeah, she was about to have an internal anxiety collapse, but she could manage to look unfazed on the outside. "What did you need me for, sir?"

Nick Fury's eye assessed her as if trying to get into her head. She remained there, trying not to run away from that powerful gaze upon her.

"You have a degree on Political Science." He said. Stating the obvious, thought Darcy.

"Yes, sir, I do." Her voice sounded slightly intrigued by Fury's affirmation.

"Well, this is your new assignment." Fury's expression was as serious as death. "You will help Loki to blend himself on earth. He must learn everything you know about our technology, and you will make him an efficient agent. I want him to be an Avenger, and I want him to learn to cooperate."

She stared at him in disbelief. Surely he wasn't asking _her_ to help a psychotic alien. She didn't even know how to protect herself from something like magic.

Shit, she didn't even know how to protect herself from life! She wasn't Natasha Romanoff…

The little beeps of the machines around her brought her back to the unpleasant reality.

"With all due respect, sir, are you sure you have called the right agent? My clearance level is like… one? And I don't have that much experience on the field, you know, I'm not a soldier, I'm a political…scientist? I…." she stammered and stuttered, but Fury interrupted her with a firm voice.

"As I said before, you have a degree on Political Science. You know how to treat with people from the other side of the world. You know how to negotiate with them, how to make them do everything you need them to do. We need Loki's cooperation, but we are not fools. We know he acts for his own benefit. That's why we need someone like you."

Darcy was astonished, and, she had to admit, completely terrified. Loki was a mass murderer. A friking mass murderer. She didn't interact with people like him. She ran away and hide. That's what you do with crazy psychos, she thought. They're beyond reason.

"What about Romanoff?" she asked, hopelessly. "She's like… the woman for that job, isn't she?"

Nick Fury sighed and frowned dangerously. Darcy took a step back.

"Agent Romanoff bested Loki's acting skills before New York. He hates her, to say the least. And besides, her profile is not what we are looking for. We need a non-threatening person. Someone like you."

Darcy needed something strong. Like Tony's vodka. No way Fury was doing that to her.

"But…"

"Are you questioning your superior's order?" He snapped suddenly, and Darcy took another step back.

Shit. Fury was furious. Pun intended.

"You have chosen to become an agent, and agents do not let their emotions interfere with their jobs. Haven't you learn that during your training?" He continued with the same tone.

"Yes, sir." She mumbled. She was about to faint. If only she was more girly, she could pretend to be fainting and perhaps they would call someone to rescue her.

But probably Fury was going to slap her awake before anyone could do anything.

"That's what I thought. Brock and Gadhavi will be your supporting team, but they cannot know Loki's true identity. If they ask you, you will say he's a new agent and that he's learning about New York. You can invent anything to avoid further questions. If someone besides me and Dr. Foster and the Avengers knows he's here and not dead, they will do anything to attract him. That cannot happen."

"Yes, sir." She mumbled again. Great, she had to lie to her two friends. That was just marvellous.

"You can leave now." He dismissed her with a wave of his hand, and Darcy turned around and left the office.

She walked back to her office feeling numb. She didn't even know how she managed not to get lost.

She opened the door and almost threw herself on the couch. But Jane was sitting there, and the look in her eyes told Darcy she knew this was coming all along.

"Hey" She said, and sat on her desk. Jane gave her a cup of coffee.

"So…Fury told you." Said Jane, tentatively.

"Yeah… he was pretty…bossy." Darcy took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose softly.

"Is it going to be a 24/7 assignment?" Jane was positively terrified now.

"Fury didn't say, so I guess it will be more like a tour around the city, showing you-know-who we are not as pathetic as he seems to think. Not that _that_ is going to change his mind about us. He knows he could crush us if he wants to."

Jane nodded.

Neither of them said anything in a while, trying to accept the reality. Fury had gone mad, Darcy was sure. She couldn't say it out loud, but she knew Jane was thinking the same.

Suddenly, a commotion outside caught their attention. Thor, Tony and Steve stormed inside her office and started talking at the same time. However, when Steve saw Darcy's face, he went over and put a hand on her shoulder.

"We will help you, Darcy." He assured her, his warm voice sending shivers down her spine. She smiled, blushing slightly. She had a crush on Steve, although she was never going to let anyone know about it.

"Thanks, Cap. I think I will need all the help I can get."

"I'm going to talk to Fury. He will change his mind, he needs to understand the danger he's putting you under." Tony was utterly convinced there had been a mistake.

"My brother is no longer a threat, I assure you, Darcy." Thor's voice boomed on the room like thunder.

"Yeah, you say that because he's been on a cell for the past two years. Now he's going to be free. I don't want to see Darcy being thrown out of a window as it happened to me." Snapped Tony.

"She's going to be okay, we will protect her." Intervened Steve, trying to calm things down. Jane was hugging Thor, her face almost desperate, and Tony seemed like he was about to break something.

"Loki could have escaped that cell, but he didn't. I think that speaks for itself." Said Thor.

Suddenly, four faces looked at him in disbelief.

The argument grew into heat, and soon enough the three men looked ready to hit each other.

"Guys" started Darcy, trying to make them listen. They ignored her. "GUYS!" she screamed, and they finally looked at her. "I will do it. It's an assignment, and my first big one. Yeah, I don't think I will succeed, but at least I will try. I have experience with people from 'the other side of the world', as Fury put it, and I will use it for this."

"Yeah, well, he's not from the other side of the world…he's from another world, and that is it. It's not like he's German. He's…" Tony started, but Thor interrupted.

"He's Asgardian, and as an Asgardian he's been taught to understand other realms."

"It seems he does not want to understand anything outside his ambition." Said Steve.

"We do not know what he pretends right now." Stated Darcy. "Perhaps I can find out."

"You will be in danger." Tony was almost pleading right now. "Let me talk to Fury."

Darcy sighed.

"No. I will do it. I know you will protect me, and that makes me feel a little better. You did defeat him two years ago." Darcy smiled softly. She was grateful for having such friends around her.

"We did." Tony smiled mischievously, recalling old times.

Thor looked a little embarrassed. Jane smiled reassuringly at him.

"Now, go away so I can think this through. I don't want you around bickering like five year olds."

Jane and Thor left, and soon enough Tony did too. Steve was following him, but in the last moment he turned around and took her hand in his.

"I promise you, I will be there for anything you need." He said, his voice soft but firm at the same time. She blushed like a teenager. Damn her!

"I know, Steve. And I thank you for that." She smiled sheepishly at him. Geez, she definitely had a _big_ crush on this perfect man. Steve nodded and left her, closing the door on his way out.

"It will be fine. He will learn to like us, and I will have freed the world from a threat. It's going to be just fine." She thought, trying to calm herself.

She did not know how wrong she was.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: If you recognize something, it is not mine. Believe me, I would be making tasertricks movies. Not all of them would be PG.**

 _I am just…. I can't even start describing how much your reviews had made me happy. I never thought this experiment of mine could get a response like yours. Thanks for the follows, the favourites and the reviews, you are amazing! Remember, if you've got ideas, send them to me and I will include them!_

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I apologize for any mistakes you can find, and because this chapter is short, but ch. 4 is almost done and will be up soon!

 _Enjoy!_

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"You are going to live in Stark Tower. Or the Avengers Tower, as it is called now." Nick Fury said from the other side of the desk.

Loki was sitting in Fury's office, his long legs stretched out in a comfortable position, making him seem nonchalant. However, he was far from feeling satisfied with the situation.

"I beg your pardon?" He sat up straighter in his chair, not believing his ears.

"Yeah, SHIELD's not a hotel, so we don't have room here for you. Stark has already agreed to take you in his tower, so you are going to live there." Fury gestured with his hand, examining some papers and dismissing the topic as if it was nothing.

"Do you realize that I attempted to throw him out of a window two years ago?" Loki asked, his tone calm and collected. He was trying to be polite. Fury's piercing gaze made him raise his eyebrows questioningly.

"Yeah, I do. You did throw him out of a window, by the way. That was no attempt. Believe me, he has not forgotten that. But, I repeat, we are not a hotel, so you are staying with him. He won't throw you out of anywhere. Besides, it's one of the safest places we've got to offer."

Loki set his jaw. His magic burned inside him, like an animal fighting for freedom.

"Fine. I shall stay with the Man of Iron." He complied. He hated the part in which he had to swallow his pride to play the good guy act. But Stark was going to regret that decision for a long time, he thought, savouring in advance the mortal's suffering.

"And" added Fury. Loki looked up at him, eyes narrowed with hostility. Fury was writing something in a folder, and did not bother to look away. "You will have a guide. Your guide will teach you how to blend in around here. We don't want anyone recognizing you on the streets. Let alone dangerous people. You are responsible for lots of casualties, so you will be on constant watch."

"Fine." He repeated. Agent Barton took a step closer. He had been behind him the entire conversation, and Loki had almost felt his resentment piercing the back of his head all the time. He supposed Barton had many reasons to hate him. After all, he had played with the agent's mind. Loki was sure that at least one of the arrows in Haweye's quiver was designed especially for him.

"This wristband will track your whereabouts every day and every hour. It was designed to track Banner at first, so I suggest you don't try to break it. Stark improved it, so now it's also immune to your manipulations." Hawkeye said, placing the black bracelet on his left hand. Loki only smirked. He wasn't that naïve. He wouldn't take off that device. The agent frowned at him.

"You are not allowed to leave the Tower without your guide. She will also have a tracker on her, so don't try to do anything, because we will know. I will now take you to her so you can…get to know each other." His tone was firm and almost menacing. As if Barton was defying him to try something.

"Marvellous." Loki's smirk only grew wider.

He rose from his chair and agent Barton led him through dark hallways.

On their way to the guide, Loki thought things would go uphill from there.

That was another mistake.

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	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything you can recognize. *tears***

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"Stop it, Stark. You're gonna break my iPod, get away from it." Spat Darcy, smacking him across the shoulder.

"I'm just trying to download…." He tried to keep talking, but Darcy wasn't having any of that. She pointed a finger at him, one of her hands on her waist, her face deadly serious.

"I don't care. Don't touch my baby, you hear me? I _forbid you to touch my baby again_. You can't be near my muggle tech. You'll transform it into a horcrux, you've done it before." Tony chuckled, but Darcy didn't change her expression. She had bought that iPod a week ago, no one could be near it except for herself.

Steve, Tony, Thor, Jane and Natasha were inside Darcy's office.

Needless to say, they were all waiting for Loki's arrival. She was going to be officially introduced to Public Enemy number One. Or Reindeer Games, as Tony liked to call him. She sat down on her couch.

"You know, this place is too small. Clint will be coming along with you-know-who and we will be packed like sardines in here. You probably should leave." Suggested Darcy then. Jane rolled her eyes and tapped her lightly on the shoulder.

"You've said that ten times now, Darce. If he's going to be around you, we will be there too."

"Exactly." Interjected Natasha, raising her eyebrows to emphasize her words. "We won't let him hurt you." Steve and Tony nodded. Thor looked away, embarrassed. He didn't know what to do. Of course he would protect Darcy, but he hoped his brother would have…changed for the better? Darcy understood. Thor and Loki had been together for one thousand years, and Loki had gone crazy only four years ago. That wasn't a lot of time for someone who could live up to five millennia.

"Guys, we are talking about the freaking god of Mischief and Lies. He's a smartass, he knows better than to try to kill me in my own office. Besides, he's probably unarmed." Darcy did not want that much people inside her beautiful little office. She wanted to be alone. She was about to face like, the hardest assignment in her life, and she felt like she had a little army who was not letting her do it. Alright, they were superheroes. And then there was Jane, who had just slapped Loki two years ago. That made her a badass, in Darcy's not-so-humble opinion. But it was her assignment, not theirs. And she already had a support team. She still hadn't told her friends about it, but she would. "You won't be able to be with me all the time. Let's face it, I'll have to spend time with you-know-who. And I will be on my own."

"I agree." Thor spoke then, his voice low, full of sadness. "But, then again, I think it's better for him to know we will be watching carefully. If we trace certain limits now, we may not have to repent later."

The room became silent again.

"If he bothers you in any way sweetheart, let me know. I'll suit up in no time and throw him out of my tower. I've been dreaming about it anyways." Said Tony then, and took her iPhone when he thought Darcy wasn't watching. But she had learned to not trust Tony with technology, and she realized his action. She rose up from the couch, stalked over to him and tapped his arc reactor with one finger.

"Touch my iPod again, and I will lift Myeuh-Myeuh and hit your chest with it. I swear to God I will do it." She said, lowering her voice until it came out as a mere ferocious whisper. Tony flinched away from her, raising both of his hands like he did nothing wrong. Darcy took the device and put it in her pocket.

"Do you think you're worthy?" Questioned Thor, bemused by the exchange between them. Darcy smiled wickedly.

"If can't lift it, I will have Jane convincing you to crush Tony's chest. Same result, less effort. " Jane laughed, nodding in agreement. Darcy grinned and Thor gulped visibly, making Steve smile too. They all knew that Thor couldn't say no to Jane. Steve and Natasha had remained in silence the past minutes, just witnessing the entire scene. Natasha just shook her head in resignation. They were kids, really.

"It shouldn't be long now, I think." She said, and positioned herself in front of the window. Darcy ran to the chair behind her desk, and Thor moved closer to his hammer. Steve moved in front of Darcy, protecting her with his body, and Tony crossed his arms and sat on her couch, directing it towards the door where Jane stood, ready to open it. A few moments passed, and Darcy's stomach curled into a fist.

"Alright who wants coffee?" She asked, making everybody in the room jump. She smiled weakly. "I need some." No one answered.

The coffee machine, another of the objects she had managed to smuggle into her office, was always ready.

She had a cup in her hands when someone knocked on the door. Darcy swallowed hard and drank some of her life elixir before answering.

"Come on in." Yeah! She had sounded completely calm and collected. Jane opened the door and everybody inside the room tensed up visibly.

Barton walked in before Loki and surveyed the entire space, exchanging glances with Natasha. He nodded at Darcy's direction and went over to the window. Loki entered then, and his presence made the place feel a little colder. And smaller. Darcy could take a nice could for the first time.

He was tall, was her first thought. He was dressed in his "normal" attire, the one without the cape and the horns, his long legs sheathed in black leather pants and boots. His hair was slicked back, past shoulder-length, curled at the ends and black as ink.

She had seen many videos of the Battle of New York on Youtube, mostly because she wanted to see some Captain America action (that tight costume, it was almost sinful to watch…but irresistible.), and she had thought he would be stronger. Now that she was looking at him, she could see he looked thinner and paler than in the videos.

That's what two years in prison and four years of being a psycho make to your body, she thought. Don't get psycho, kids.

Loki grinned as if he were thinking about the best way to kill each and every one of them, but he didn't bother himself to look in her direction.

"Nice welcoming committee."

His voice was low and harmonious, the kind of voice Darcy felt it creep inside her like a snake. But something dark was buried deep down that voice, and she shivered unwittingly.

"How have you been, Reindeer Games?" Asked Tony, his smile not reaching his eyes.

"Cooped up in a cage, thanks for asking." Loki answered dryly, and Darcy had to pretend to be coughing to hide a little chuckle. She was terrified, that's why she was laughing. No way Loki was funny, at all.

But then Nick Fury entered the room, and her eyes widened. Damn, that was unexpected! She trusted Fury never to give a damn about her, that's why she had smuggled in the couch and the coffee machine in the first place. Jesus Christ, that's why she had been given that assignment. Loki wouldn't extract any important data from her, simply because she didn't have any (not that they knew anyways). Why was he there? He had already talked to her!

"Well, I see this is an Avenger's assemble." Was Fury's greeting. No one answered. Then he looked at Darcy, who rose up from her chair. "I'm here to introduce you to one another. Loki, this is Darcy Lewis. Darcy, this is Loki. You know the rules." He said to both of them.

"We've already met before." She said, smiling nervously. Then she looked at Loki. "'Sup, dude?" she said.

Loki didn't answer. He was looking at the roof as if he saw something of interest in there.

"Well, Agent Lewis, I have to give you your tracking device and you can start right now."

"Yeah that's nice, but first we want to talk to Ig Perrish here." Darcy rolled her eyes. Tony was behaving like a stupid big brother, but she felt a little better. Plus, Ig Perrish was a wonderful nickname for Loki. He was devilish, after all. Horns included. Darcy was sure that if she got closer to him, she would smell sulphur.

Loki smirked and turned to Tony. Stark rose elegantly from the couch, and although he was shorter than Loki, he managed to look menacing.

"Hurt her in the slightest way, and we will kill you slowly and painfully. I don't give a damn about your powers and SHIELD's desires, and never did." Nick Fury sighed in exasperation, but Tony didn't stop. "You pissed off all of us once and it didn't turned out well for you. I don't recommend a new attempt."

"Indeed. We are here to warn you. She might be an agent, but she is our friend and protégée. And you're a lot less important for us." Added Natasha coldly. Loki glared at her, pure hatred in his green eyes.

"I personally would _love_ to put an arrow between your eyes, so don't even think about hurting Darcy." Snapped Barton. He had had a tough time recovering from the power of the mind gem.

Tense silence invaded the office like a wave of sticky mud. Almost all of them were making a stare contest with Loki, and he was doing a pretty good job returning the glares.

"Enough, kids. Agent Lewis, just take the tracker and put it around your wrist. Do not take it off and you'll be safe. I have better things to do with my time than this." He handed her the tracker and turned around.

He was about to leave when Darcy exclaimed, still entrenched behind her desk and Steve.

"Is this a 24/7 mission or do I actually get to live my life on weekends?"

Well, everyone could see that was a huge error. Fury turned around again, and God if she thought she had seen him angry, she was thoroughly mistaken. She had blundered…deeply. His only eye was gleaming with anger, and he was showing his teeth like a rabid dog. Darcy sent a horrified glance at Tony, whom unfortunately wasn't paying attention. Still busy glaring at Loki.

"Agent Lewis" Started Fury, teeth clenched. _Dear Jesus, don't let this be my last day on Earth. I like being alive_ , she thought gulping. "This is the last warning I give you. You are a SHIELD agent. You take orders and you do it without much of a question. If you are needed, you must drop everything you were doing before and obey. Either you commit with SHIELD and take this chance, or you walk out and continue with your previous 'life'. Am I clear?"

Suddenly everyone, including Loki, was staring at her mouths agape. She inhaled deeply to calm herself. She needed to watch her tongue around her boss. Like, seriously.

"Yes, sir." She managed to say without her voice trembling like jelly. She was clutching the hot mug in her hand with such a strength that she was starting to burn her fingers.

"And I want a report on why you have a couch _and_ a kettle and I didn't know about it." He added gesturing at the offending objects.

Fury left the room. Everyone kept staring at her. She finally drifted her eyes from the door and looked around.

"Excuse me while I go kill myself in the armoury." She said, but she sat down. Heat rose to her cheeks. Steve had seen everything. As the soldier he was, he probably felt ashamed of her behaviour. Darcy just wanted to cry her shame.

But, to everyone's surprise, Steve started chuckling like a teenager. Tony followed, and soon enough all the Avengers (and Jane) were giggling uncontrollably. Darcy's face was deep red and she kept her eyes fixated on the mug she was still holding. Steve wiped some tears with his sleeve and shook his head.

"Your face was priceless, Darcy. Believe me, I've never seen someone as shocked as you were."

"Believe _me_ , I was beyond shock. I was fucking terrified." Mumbled Darcy. She felt humiliated. She rose and left the mug on the coffee table. Gods, she had tried to be the perfect agent, but she wasn't! She still had problems trusting SHIELD (who had her iPod? Did they sell it?) And sarcasm surfaced when she was nervous. And hell…nervousness couldn't even describe how she felt in that moment.

But, in an adult impulse never experienced before, she inhaled again, forced herself to calm down and put on a cool mask of efficiency.

"It's okay, I deserved it. I was being a dick, and playing with Fury's temper is like playing with fire." She said in a firm tone, and Natasha nodded at her in approval. Maybe everyone forgot, but Loki still was there witnessing everything. She needed to look at least not that affected by Fury.

"Yeah, kind of. But I loved it. Next time I will record it. It'll go viral in hours." Intervened Tony. Darcy rose an eyebrow at him.

"Guess that means you're gonna have to stay at home on weekends." Jane mocked. Thor was actually smiling, a flash of humour in his eyes. Darcy laughed a little.

"Well see about that, dude." Then her face went back to serious. "Okay, are you done with all the threatening act or what? 'Cause I need to start right now. I don't like the idea of another rage session with Fury, and that's what's gonna happen if I don't hurry up."

"We have finished our duty." Thor spoke in his loud voice and looked at Loki, who was watching everything with a hint of tiredness across his features. "Brother, know that if Darcy feels in any way threatened by you, we will defend her. Seize this opportunity. It is the last one you are given."

With that, he tilted his head to Darcy, took Jane's hand and left the room. Jane gave her a pitiful look and followed Thor. Natasha and Barton were the next ones to leave, both of them glancing reassuringly at her.

Steve was waiting for Tony to leave, but he refused, pretending not to see Steve's face. Darcy refrained from rolling her eyes and went to his side, grabbing her taser on the way.

"My patience is running out. Don't make me tase your butt outside." She warned. Seriously, she was already pissed off at herself and Tony was making her look like a damsel in distress or something equally pathetic.

"You wouldn't dare!" Tony stared at her in disbelief. She simply pointed the taser at him.

"I've tasered Thor after hitting him with a car, just because he was being weird." She stated. "Don't defy me."

Tony rose up and left the room. He was clearly annoyed with her, with Loki, with SHIELD and he was going to be moody the rest of the day. She didn't care. Being friends with the Avengers but not an actual Avenger could be difficult. Neither of them wanted Darcy or Jane involved too much, which is why they were compelled to stay at a refuge outside the city during their missions, along with Pepper. The three women had become friends, but no doubt it was complicated to be a potential "bargain instrument" as Fury would call it.

She turned around. Steve was still there, his soft gaze mixed with amusement.

She couldn't help but to smile at him. Even when she could feel Loki watching carefully every movement she made, every emotion that crossed her eyes, every signal her body was giving. It was starting to get creepy.

"I better go, I don't want to be electrocuted." Steve said, and left the room hurriedly after glancing towards Loki with an undefinable expression.

When he left, Darcy closed the door and turned around, only to see Loki standing right where they had left him. She gestured towards the chair in front of her desk, without meeting his eyes.

"Sit, please. We will start in a while." Surprisingly, he did.

It had all happened so fast, she really didn't know where to start. How do you teach a god to "blend in" on the same planet he tried to enslave not that much ago?

Suddenly, an idea hit her like a truck and she beamed while shoving stuff in her multi-coloured purse. This was like "The Princess Diaries", but with a guy! Infact, the guy was a prince! Yeah, a dangerous one, but a prince. She knew what to do next.

She was still smiling enthusiastically when she turned around and saw him. His questioning look didn't make her stop.

She sat behind her desk.

"How do you feel about going to a hairdresser's first?"

Darcy's voice was calm and even friendly, due to her inner excitement. It wasn't much, but at least she knew where to go first.

* * *

Ig Perrish is the main character in the film Horns, by the way ;)


	5. Chapter 5

Guys! Finally, I've managed to finish and publish this piece of my heart to you.

This chapter is dedicated to Sofía Capdevila and Nicole Nguyen, who Beta'd it. You are both wonderful persons and your encouragement means the world to me. Also, Smiles1998 reviews every time and she is great too, like Tawny.

Anyways you guys, as you may imagine by now, I need attention. I am a slut for reviews. Really. Also, for prompts. Silence on your side makes me think I really suck at this. MAKE YOUR THOUGHTS KNOWN!

The kitchen was dark and peaceful that night, and Darcy was relieved. Though she had a nice room in Stark Tower, the "common areas", as Tony called them, were the kitchen and the living room. Tony insisted that they were a team living under the same roof, so everyone should eat together.

In that moment, her own room felt like a prison, a place that gave her nothing of the mental clearness she was searching for. She had been there the entire day after that rather stressful morning. So she went to the kitchen. She knew too well that any of the Avengers could be there, and for only one night, she didn't want to see anyone. She just needed to think alone. She made herself a cup of linden tea and sat down. However, only five minutes had passed before Darcy was startled by a soft voice.

"Tough night?" asked Natasha, entering the kitchen.

Darcy didn't know how much had she been standing there. The woman opened the cupboard and pulled out a bottle of vodka, taking a glass and sitting down. Darcy raised one eyebrow in disapproval as Natasha gulped down the vodka she had poured in the glass as if it were water.

The amount of alcohol the Avengers consumed within the week was "horribly amazing", as Jane had put it once. Starting with Thor, whose attempts of getting drunk with "Midgardian ale" were right down crazy, and followed by Tony, who could make himself a glass of whiskey on the rocks right before lunch (and offered her some every single time), and, Natasha, that had a fine amount of vodka hidden in her room for "special occasions", meaning every Friday night that all the girls in Stark Tower spent together. Seriously, Darcy had nothing against a good drunken party night from time to time, but Thor had _beer for breakfast!_ He had probably induced Vikings to do the same.

"More like tough week, I'd say." Darcy finally answered. She had had worse, though, but she didn't like to think about it.

"Problems with horned Asgardians?" Natasha smirked knowingly. Darcy sipped her tea, her eyes lost in the room without focusing on anything in particular.

"You could say. But it's not quite that. He has not been...that much of a challenge, yet. Of course I don't bet anything. I'm sure he'll be mean to everyone. He just hasn't been around long enough."She hesitated for a moment, squirming in her seat. "The truth is...I'm afraid of him."

Natasha was about to say something, but Darcy went on without thinking "I'm not telling you this to make you guys nervous or anything. Last thing I need are the Avengers showing up all the time to see whether Horns killed me or not. No...I'm afraid of his powers. He messed up with Clint's mind, and we all know he's not 100% recovered from that...and let's not even start with Erik. As soon as he found out Loki was gonna be here, he flew all the way back to Norway! I'm afraid this guy can make me betray SHIELD, somehow...and I don't want to be mind-fucked. That came out wrong...I don't want to be...his mind-slave? I'm totally rambling right now, maybe I should stop because just thinking about it makes me feel horrible and…"

"But you don't have that much intel, right?" Nat said, her piercing eyes making Darcy even more uncomfortable. She scanned the room, spotting all the surveillance cameras. Fury had access to them, everybody knew it.

"Of course not, dude!" She exclaimed after a moment, scandalized. But she softly kicked Nat's foot twice. That was a code she, Jane, Nat and Pepper had around the boys. The others were completely intrigued at their apparent "telepathy", and none of them had discovered the kicking system yet. It was almost stupid: two knocks, yes. One: No.

Natasha almost rolled her eyes, smiling openly.

"It's not like SHIELD is that secret anymore. 'Shieldleaks' is still on the media." The Black Widow grimaced a bit, remembering all the harassment she had to handle when all her past came to the light.

Darcy blushed and fiddled with her cup of tea. "I'm not saying I hacked into SHIELD's files to see what was happening in New York... I'm saying I printed...every single file concerning all of you Avengers..."

Natasha's eyes widened almost against her will, but then she patted Darcy's shoulder.

" You're...resourceful." She whispered. "And admit it, we are starting from scratch. We are few, and we are weak."

"I know, I know, but he doesn't! Horns must think we are stronger than ever. He must not know that his prison is just Tony's basement, that the SHIELD he knows and hates is gone. I mean, you don't even answer to Fury anymore, you answer to Steve... What if he escapes and goes to HYDRA?" Darcy sounded almost desperate, and her friend understood that.

"Of course he will find out. He's intelligent and cunning, and we'll have to deal with it. If he refuses to cooperate with us, we'll lock him up again. We'll be all dead when he finally dies, but it will have been be worth it."

Natasha looked so calm that Darcy wanted to hit her square in the face. She took all the shit life had thrown at her with the same nonchalant expression. If Darcy didn't know better, she would say the Black Widow didn't have a heart. But she knew. Darcy was friends with her, and she knew why Natasha liked her: she didn't change her behaviour towards Natasha when her past made everyone back away .

Anyway, Darcy always tended to freak out a lot.

"Apart from this, has something else happened to you today that you wanna talk about?"

Darcy stirred the tea and sighed, defeated. Yes, something had happened.

Darcy started talking.

* * *

Fury hadn't specifically told her to do anything with Loki (besides god-sitting him?). So it was okay if she took him out for a while...right? Dude could benefit from some fresh air and sunlight on his face. Maybe that would help him not to look like some crazy crack-addict. He had that look in his eyes.

" _Will take Crazy Guy to Desrosiers. Let Tony know, and the rest of the team as well. I don't want them getting hysterical because Reindeer Games is not in the Tower. I will take one of SHIELD's vans."_ She texted Maria.

" _Fine. Good luck. though I hope you don't need it. I will arrange something for you and I will let Fury know what you are doing, just in case..."_

Maria had been working for Tony the past two years, since HYDRA took over SHIELD. Every single scientist and agent that didn't want to be part of HYDRA (or die at their hands) went to Stark Tower and started working for the Avengers. Or just hid. Darcy and Jane (and Ian-dickhead) had decided to do the same after some HYDRA guys intercepted them in London and offered them a job. Of course Thor's presence on Earth had a lot to do with that. Darcy had spent the first five months wandering the Tower, making new friends and training, though her abilities were far from advanced, she could hold herself in a fight. Or at least she thought so.

After two years, and with Thor back, Darcy could exit the building fairly certain that she would be alive at the end of the day.

Two agents led Darcy and Loki to the underground parking lot. Fury kept there the vehicles he had been able to rescue over the past years from HYDRA's claws. He was trying to limit HYDRA's resources, with little success so far.

However, a sky-blue convertible was waiting for them between SHIELD's black cars and vans. In that moment, Darcy's phone buzzed in her pocket. She took it out. It was a text from Tony: " _Take the car. It's not in the market yet. I'll let you use it for today. You deserve it. Take care, drive safe and come back in one piece. TS"_

"I...I don't understand…" Darcy stuttered and caressed the car almost reverently. "This is a Firebird. A Pontiac. A classic. A renewed classic..."

She went to the hood and touched it again. She could not believe her eyes. The car was beautiful.

Someone coughed lightly, startling Darcy. Loki was watching her with a frown of misunderstanding that lasted less than a second before his eyes glared at someone behind her. She rolled her eyes at him and turned around. Maria Hill was there, holding a badge for her.

"This will allow you to exit the accommodation with him. You'll need to use it every time you leave the place. Of course you are being monitored through the wristband, but in case anything happened to it, you have the badge. - We are trying to find a way of keeping him under control." She whispered at the end, trying to reassure her.

Darcy smiled disbelievingly. "Good luck with that. Did you know he's the God of Chaos?" She asked.

Maria nodded once with sadness and left them alone. Darcy turned around one more time and stared at him for a second. He was extremely pale and thin, his sharp cheekbones making him look like a ghost.

Darcy opened the door and got in the car. "Get in, loser. We're going shopping." She said, and then chuckled.

Loki rounded the car without a word. She opened the door for him and explained briefly how seatbelts worked. At his furrowed brow, she sighed. "Dude, don't you have like, cars in Asgard? This seatbelt is in case we crash and your body reacts by flying out of the vehicle. It will keep it here. And if you die nonetheless, it will contain your pieces for us to bury them or whatever you do with dead bodies."

"I don't think it's going to be that easy to end my life on this piece of dirt you call Earth." He murmured for himself, but Darcy heard him nonetheless.

"That I can bet. Didn't you fake your death twice already? Gonna be a little hard to believe you if you actually die in a car crash."

But then she started the car and the sensitive pedals sent them towards the nearest wall at an alarmingly high speed. Darcy shrieked and Loki clutched his seat, his fingers digging the leather.

"What on the NINE REALMS DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING, STUPID CHILD!?" He screamed, furious.

Darcy, eyes closed and hands holding the wheel for dear life, pressed the brake. The car stopped dead and the inertia sent their bodies forward. The seatbelt burned her chest, and she could hear Loki's low groan of pain. There was a moment of silence.

"Fuck…" Darcy muttered, massaging her neck. She knew at least two people were watching the security cameras, so she searched for one and gave a thumbs up. Immediately after, her phone buzzed.

" _What was that all about? Want to commit suicide on your first day?"_

"Oh, please, not Barton!" She ignored the text and tried the car again, this time much more carefully. "Sorry, dude. This thing is so much sensitive than the van… though probably you don't even know what that is, right?" She said, her eyes never leaving the road.

Her phone buzzed again. Probably Natasha. She carefully drove to the exit for a while, and when a guard started to ask questions that she answered boredly, her mind mulled over the thought of turning off her phone. At last, she decided not to. When she felt she could text them back, she would.

When they finally reached the streets, Darcy could observe he was inhaling deeply. His eyes were moving all the time, taking in the road, the other cars and the people in them. He had a sneer plastered on his face, but she could tell he needed the change. How deep in his madness was he?

"Good morning Miss Lewis, how may I be of assistance?" An even masculine voice asked from the speakers inside the vehicle. She jumped in her seat, startled.

"Jarvis? What are you doing here?" Darcy fought hard to not facepalm. Of course Tony had lent her the car that had Jarvis in it.

"Mr. Stark put me in here last night."

"Why didn't you help me when we almost crashed?" Her tone was accusing. Loki was carefully watching her interaction with the robot.

"I had instructions to activate only when we were outside. May you turn on the auto pilot mode?" Darcy sighed in annoyance.

"You know what, Jarvis? Why don't you contact Tony and tell him that he can go fuck himself? Then you can drive." She suggested, her voice almost like a growl.

"Very well, Miss Lewis."

"Make sure to tell him my exact words: _Tony, you can go fuck yourself_ _with a cactus. Love, Darcy._ "

After a minute, the autopilot turned on and Dacy crossed her arms. She should have known. They had all this special protection around her only because she was their friend, and she understood. But Nick Fury was not going to be sympathetic about it. Neither were her fellow agents. They all seemed to hate her or envy her a little, including the pair she considered her "comrades". According to them, she needed to "man up" and stop looking for the Avengers protection.

"You've been too quiet. What are you up to?" She snapped at Loki.

He had been observing the town and its people, trying to remember anything from the last time he had been there. The little mortal's voice annoyed him.

"Do you think I would tell you if I were up to something?" He asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

She clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Do you think you would succeed? 'Cause last I remember the Hulk beat your ass."

Loki moved so fast she could only blink before his face was mere inches from hers. His breath was cold and his words were sharp against her skin. The car stopped softly at a red light, but neither of them payed attention.

"Do not speak about things you don't understand, foolish girl, or I may rip your tongue out of your mouth."

"Then don't try to take over my world again, you motherfucker son of a bitch." She hissed at his face, and he retreated with a smirk playing on his lips.

"You have no idea." He said, his words clipped.

His hands were fists, and he could feel his whole body shaking with a mix of emotions. Suddenly, fear became dominant and he pushed down the feelings by biting the insides of his cheeks. When he tasted blood, he stopped. The mortal was to blame for that outburst. She was insignificant, a mere annoyance, but she had managed to almost make him lose control. Almost.

Though the traffic wasn't too crowded, the car moved carefully across the streets. Soon enough, tall buildings surrounded them and hide the sun.

"We have arrived." The even voice of Jarvis made Darcy jump in her seat.

"Fucking time, Jarvis. You could drive a carriage at that speed." Darcy was still annoyed with everything around her. And even more annoyed because she knew Jarvis wasn't going to fight her.

"Mr. Stark strongly suggested that I respected the speed limits within the city." Darcy swore she could hear Jarvis snort at that. She lowered her lips to the centre of the vehicle and then groaned her words: "This will _not_ be the end. Tell Stark that."

And then she unclasped her seatbelt and jumped off the car. She walked a few steps before realizing Loki was not following her. He was there, still in the car, and Darcy cursed her fate.

"Stupid Thor, with his stupid hammer and his retarded brother and his shitty family…" she mumbled to herself before opening Loki's door. He still hadn't unclasped his seatbelt. Sighing, she bent over to do it for him but he pushed her roughly and the back of her head hit the front glass. The pain she was feeling in her neck from the accident before grew and spread through her head.

"Don't touch me, filth." He whispered, anger filling his features.

Right. Completely mental brother. Darcy tried not to grimace and stepped back.

"Believe me, I'd rather be left without arms and legs before touching any part of you. And when I mean any, I also include the air you exhale. " Then she righted herself and looked down at him. "Does the King of Fools know how to be free of these dishonouring ties?"

She saw his eyebrows lift with malice,and before she could stop it, he ripped the seat belt with a jerk and stood up in front of her. He was taller, and she hated to look up, so she stepped back even more.

"You did not break the seatbelt of a Pontiac." She stated, mouth agape, looking at the broken seat belt with something very similar to panic in her eyes. "Not Tony's Pontiac."

Loki smirked patiently, as if she were stupid. "Apparently, I did. Now, where were we going?"

Her eyes jumped to him, and he relished the beginning of hysteria in her eyes.

"Do you realize what you just did? They will give a ticket to Tony because cameras will record you without a seatbelt around the city! It's a classic car, you stupid..."

And when Loki was about to say something ironic to her, her features changed and a delighted smile blossomed in her lips. Her eyes lit up with mischievousness, and she chuckled.

"Oh, but you totally did, Horns. You totally did, and this is perfect!"

Now was Loki's turn to be dumbfounded. "Pardon me?"

"Oh, come on! Dude! And you call yourself the God of Mischief?" She taunted and rubbed her hands together. "You'll see when we get back how exactly did you made something good today. Although it's only good from my perspective."

Their destination was a block away, so Darcy and Loki walked to it as quickly as they could. Loki had enjoyed their ride in the car, but now the buildings and the people were making him uncomfortable, something similar to anxiety rising up in his chest. The noise was too loud, the people passed too near him, the voices mixed up in nonsense. He hadn't been around people in years, and he had never liked it.

Darcy entered a small place that could be easily unnoticed between the other stores and Loki followed.

The hairdressers was small, but elegant. Every detail had been taken care of, everything was clean and bright. The oak floor carried the scent of wax, and the furniture was minimalist and modern. Soft music came from the speakers at the corners of the room. A black chesterfield couch with multi-coloured cushions occupied the right side, along with a coffee table and a neat stack of magazines, in front of a small worktop with a phone and some sheets of paper on top of it.

The reception area was separated from the working area by a wall made of ground glass. Behind it, Édouard worked quietly. That way, customers could see the "before" and "after" in the other people's look.

The Desrosiers were a French couple who, as they had said once, "came here to bring élégance to busy Americans." Darcy loved them. The place made her feel…beautiful. Not that she had a super low self-esteem, but she did tend to think herself in a negative way every other day. And the Desrosiers helped her get that thought out of her head. Even when it was small and not many people knew its existence, their owners were always kind and, well, Édouard made celebrities hair look like a mess in comparison to his works. Her hair used to be anything but hair until Édouard got his hands on it.

"Bonjour, Mademoiselle Lewis!" Said a tall, lean and perfect blonde lady at the reception. She reminded Loki of some of the Asgardian women, but with far less fierceness in her eyes.

"Bonjour, Alphonsine. How are you? How's Édouard?" Darcy beamed and then hugged the woman, who had stepped to the side of the worktop. Her heavy accent made Darcy smile. Alphonsine still spoke as if she had arrived yesterday.

"Trés bien, ma cherie...and Bonjour, monsieur…?"

Her question was answered by Darcy. "He's Lucas Dickson, from As…pen." She hesitated a moment before continuing. "He's visiting, and I'm in charge of showing him around a little. But first, he needs a new look, don't you think?"

Alphonsine smiled at him and she didn't look upset by the fact he didn't respond to her smile. She looked at him carefully. "Oui, d'accord…he needs a good haircut. Édouard will enjoy this. I will let him know that you are here, ma cherie… and your friend as well. I'll be back in no-time."

Alphonsine turned around on her high heels and went to the other side of the shop. Darcy heard her talk with her husband in French, and she went over the couch and sat down.

"Will I need to ask you to sit each time you go with me somewhere? 'Cause I'm not gonna do it anymore. Sit." She whispered tiredly. "Please."

He sat down at the other end of the couch.

Freaking silence. She hated it. Not that she couldn't keep her mouth shut, she totally could. But, really, his silence was… disturbing. Quiet bad guys are planning world domination, or at least that was her opinion.

Despite himself, Loki grabbed a magazine from the stack. Darcy looked at it from the corner of her eye. National Geographic. That was another thing she loved about Desrosiers, she thought. The magazines there were the ones she actually liked to read: National Geographic (Jane had made her love NG, and she was grateful for that), Le Monde Diplomatique, even a few Charlie Hebdo. Thank God she hadn't take him to a regular hairdresser's, or he would be reading Cosmo. She would understand him if he suddenly decided to enslave Earth again, since that magazine tended to do that to herself.

His long and lean fingers flicked through the magazine, almost caressing the glossy pages, his eyes staring intently at the images and the text. His stern expression faltered for a second, showing something very similar to longing. Darcy was staring sideways at him, pretending she was toying with her phone, when a thought suddenly struck her: he hadn't read anything in a long time. And according to all the things Thor had told her about Asgard, his brother and himself, Loki was kind of a bookworm. She supposed that the lack of books would be almost unbearable if she were a prisoner. She was a friggin' addict to books. She read everything, devoured books like a monster. Her mother had stopped buying her books at the age of eight, because she read too fast and giving her things to read was starting to mean cutting the budget in primary necessities stuff. A wave of sympathy run through her, and she couldn't help herself.

"You like to read?" she asked, her tone softer than she had intended.

He glanced at her suspiciously. Darcy was now staring at him, a hint of pity in her big blue eyes. "Why would you care?" Loki asked coldly.

At that, Darcy snapped out of her own stupid brain and flashed him a sarcastic smile. "I don't particularly care, I was just curious. I don't think SHIELD gave you a full library to enjoy in prison, given the fact that you're looking at that magazine the way some people would look at the love of their lives."

He glanced quickly at the magazine and left it on the table. Darcy rolled her eyes.

"Dude, come on. I like to read too, and I don't know if you will find those interesting, but I definitely did. The one you grabbed is great, I've read it twice."

"What is your purpose in this conversation? Why do you want to know more about me?" He asked without looking at her. His eyes were fixated on the other side of the room. Darcy frowned in confusion.

"God, I don't have…" But then he cocked his head at her, staring fiercely.

"SHIELD wants to know everything about me, and you are the stupid little mortal they send to get it? You are obviously inexperienced and weak, and if Fury thinks you will achieve his goal, he's more dim-witted than I first thought."

His words hurt Darcy, but she wasn't about giving him the chance to speak the last word. She straightened on the couch and moved her body a little closer. Her tone was as cold as his when she spoke, glaring furiously at Loki.

"I don't know what SHIELD wants. I've been ordered to babysit you, and believe me, I don't fucking want to be here with you. I am supposed to fill a report tonight about our activities, and may I fucking remind you that they know where you are and how to stop you if you start with that world domination shit? And if you ask, no, I'm not recording this conversation and I honestly don't think you are that important for them to listen to this stupid talk. They don't need your privacy. They need your abilities. That's why they sent me, because yeah, I don't have that much experience on the field." She then smiled sarcastically. "Unless you count a few encounters with 'dark elves' and the supposedly God of Thunder, aka Goldilocks. "

Loki raised his eyebrows, the interest winning over the rage. He parted his lips, speechless for a moment.

"Dark elves? Malekith?" He said, obvious curiosity in his tone, though her eyes remained dark and stormy.

Darcy was astonished. Dude had some serious mood change. One minute he was crazy and the next he was actually interested on what she had said.

"Yeah, that creepy and ugly elf. Dark elf, whatever. Uglier than spiders."

"Malekith was here, in Midgard?"

"Are you deaf or what? Yeah, Malekith was on Earth, 'cause it's called Earth." Loki scowled but she didn't stop. "He came after Thor, of course, so Jane and I and Ian-dickhead were planting some sticks and sending Malekith and his ships to other realms because of that realms alignment…"

"Convergence." Interrupted Loki, deep in thought.

Darcy continued "Yeah, that, and obviously he had some trouble with you people and he decided to take it out on us, though Jane having the Aether (or whatever) inside would be something to consider as well. Not a surprise,since apparently everyone having problems with Asgardians tends to come here to solve them. And yes, I'm talking about you and the Destroyer that you sent here, not the Chitauri we all know and hate."

At the mention of the Chitauri, he felt a pang on his head and pressed his lips in a thin line. He wouldn't kill the mortal. Yet.

When he didn't answer, she grabbed a National and started reading it. Deep in thought, she hadn't realized Loki was observing her.

He knew Fury had something in mind when they assigned her to him, but he didn't know what. She didn't look menacing to him. She was in fact a small thing, distracting herself with some Midgardian literature when she should be watching him. She was fragile, and she talked too much. Why would anyone put her to watch over him? The desire to escape lingered in his mind for a moment before fading. He had nowhere to escape. No place in the universe… Loki clenched his fists as the words of The Other echoed in his mind.

" _There will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he can not find you…"_

"Mr. Dickson?" The tall, blonde woman was looking at him. He raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to continue. "Édouard is ready."

Darcy stood up at those words, and he did as well. She gave him a piercing look and stepped towards the working area. But before she could reach it, Édouard came out, a bright smile on his lips. He hugged Darcy tightly, and she giggled in his arms.

"How are you, crazy Frenchie?" Her muffled words made him laugh. He let go and took her hands in his.

"Wonderful now that I see you! It's been a while!" And then the man looked at him and his smile grew even wider (was that even possible?). "And I see you've brought a friend!"

Darcy raised one eyebrow at his tone. "Yeah, Lucas Dickson, from Aspen. Part of my job, actually. I'm in charge of showing him around the city." She explained.

But Édouard didn't stop beaming. "Well, let's begin then. Monsieur Dickson, please come with me. You, ma cherie, stay in here with ma femme and have a chat. I will call you in when we finish."

At that, Darcy's expression grew worried. "Oh, actually I'd like to be there when…"

But Édouard interrupted. "Absolutely no way, ma cherie. You know my rules."

There was a moment in which she felt like drowning. She knew their rules, but she couldn't leave Loki alone with Édouard. What if he killed the man? What if he escaped?

"We knew you were coming, Darcy. Miss Potts texted me a few minutes before you came in. It's alright." Alphonsine assured her with a soft smile.

"Okay, then." Darcy gave up. If Pepper had something to do with it, they were safe. The place was probably being watched from the inside too.

Loki and Édouard entered the working area, and Alphonsine went to Darcy immediately after the door was closed. "Are you going to tell me who is that beau you came with?"

Darcy looked at her, puzzled. "Beau? What do you mean? He's just a guy from work. If I could be at home watching Netflix right now, I would! Instead I have to go sightseeing with him.I'm not dating him, or anybody for that matter. You know I don't do dates."

Alphonsine looked disappointed. And then she smiled sympathetically. "And..haven't you thought about...something more serious after…?"

Against her will, Darcy's expression hardened. Her soft features turned to a cold mask, she pressed her nails into the palms of her hands.

"No."

Her voice was enough warning for Alphonsine and the woman rose from the couch and walked back to the reception area after squeezing Darcy's knee. A flash appeared on her mind. A goofy smile, calloused hands and kind words filled her thoughts, and she took a deep breath to regain control. She felt bad for treating Alphonsine that way. Darcy knew she meant well.

"I'm sorry." She said loud enough for Alphonsine to hear.

The woman turned around and smiled, sympathy not leaving her dark eyes completely. "It's fine, no hard feelings. What have you been doing these past months?"

Darcy shrugged and grinned. "Nothing special, just helping Jane with the lab and everything, now that I've finally graduated. I still haven't found anything to work on my field, but I don't care. I'm having a great time, so I can't say I'm really looking for a new job, I mean, I deal with superheroes on a daily basis! That's gotta count for something!"

Alphonsine smiled comprehensively. "That's fine. Academic achievements have never been on my top list of priorities either."

In that moment, Édouard came out with Loki behind him.

But something wasn't right.

The Loki that entered the working area wasn't the same Loki that came out of it. He was still wearing the black clothing SHIELD had provided him with (she supposed it was just the standard prisoner clothing), but his face had changed. And Darcy knew by instinct that she liked the change, and that she feared it at the same time.

The "before" Loki just...you could see the craziness all around him. Right, maybe it was just his aura, or all the footage she had seen about him, but it was true. The long hair, the sunken eyes, the armour…all of him screamed danger. Everyone could feel it, even Alphonsine had

made a (very discreet) face when she saw him. However, the "after" Loki…

First of all, his eyes looked bigger and lighter. Dracy didn't know how that was possible, but hell, it was. Short, black curls framed a thin face with high cheekbones. Combed back but not stucked and oily, he looked elegant and refined. A true prince. He seemed...more innocent?

He still wore that closed off expression of a caged animal, though. Now she could see why he was the God of Mischief. With a face like that, she bet he could cause chaos without being caught.

And that was fucking dangerous.

"Like the change?" Asked Édouard, mistaking her surprised expression for one of lust.

 _No_. She wanted to answer. _Change it back._

But the damage was done.

"Absolutely. I think he looks more like a normal human being now." She smiled at Édouard and knew Loki was trying not to sneer. Then she quickly turned around and went to the reception desk, where Alphonsine was making a phone call. When she finished, Darcy hurried up to speak.

"Put it in Stark's account. I'm not paying for this."She winked. She needed to get out as soon as possible. "Bye!" Darcy exclaimed and gestured Loki to follow her.

"But...aren't you going to stay a little longer for your own hair?" Édouard eyed her with criticism.

"Nope. Tight schedule. Sorry guys! I'll catch up with you one of these days!" She almost ran off from the place and walked as fast as she could towards the car. She knew Loki was following her.

"We're not going shopping. I'll order you some clothing on the internet." She said.

"I do not care." Was his flat answer.

* * *

"And that is your concern?" Natasha asked. Darcy could tell she was amused and incredulous.

"Yes! Have you seen him? He looks like a freaking prince and everything! The other agents will see him and trust him, and he'll gather information and he'll kill us all! I can't tell everyone who he is; SHIELD lost some good agents in his last attack. "

"Wait, slow down, Darce! You're going too far. He won't be around other agents. Not only because we will not let him, but because the other agents have been sent to missions and are not able to come back here. Fury's orders. He emptied the Tower of Agents."

Darcy felt the fear in her stomach bubble up. "So… my friends are gone as well?" She said.

"Yes. Brock and Gadhavi are gone. No one had time to say goodbye before having to pack and leave. You're now Tony's employee, and Loki is your colleague, Lucas Dickson. At least in the records.

Darcy didn't want to cry in front of the Black Widow, so she pinched her leg to think about something else. "Fine. Fury's orders, I get it."

"He also suggested...that next time you go out with him, you take one of us."

"I won't take him outside again." Darcy sighed and stood up, the cold remnants of her tea still in the cup. She left the cup in the sink.

"Okay. I'm sorry, Darcy. I knew you wanted to be a regular SHIELD agent...and you'll get the chance. I promise. You've been given the most dangerous mission after all. Some would

consider that an honor."

"Only because Fury doesn't care if I die. If Loki decides to kill me…"

"He has put you in charge because he knows we will protect you. If Loki even thinks about killing you, we will kill him. Mercilessly."

Darcy spun around so quickly at her tone that her neck hurt a bit more. Natasha looked positively dangerous, but somehow that warmed her heart.

"Right. Thanks, Nat."

When Darcy returned to her apartment that night, she felt a little better. Sometimes she hated all this over protection around her, but she knew that if she had superpowers, she would do the same with her friends. She lay in her bed at peace, her mind finally drifting off to sleep easily. In front of her apartment, locked up in his own new "home", Loki stared at the darkness surrounding him with terror in his eyes.

* * *

Far away, on the other side of the world, a man with the face surrounded by darkness opened a jail.

"You are ready. Await your orders. Hail HYDRA."

"Hail HYDRA" was the answer of the young twins kept inside.

Then they stepped out.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in here. Everything belongs to Marvel and Stan Lee, a.k.a the most amazing grandpa in the world (after my own grandpa of course)**_

* * *

 _This was going to be a long, LONG chapter, but it wasn't really finished and I didn't want to make it too long, so I divided it. It's still LONG AF. I'm sorry for the delay, I've been crazy with Christmas, New Year and finals at University. As usual, thanks to my amazing Beta for all her encouraging words to me and all the help she gives me. You can find me in tumblr (writerwithproblems is my URL) if you want to see lots of Loki and madness and fic recs._

 _Review? Pretty please? :)_ _Reviews inspire me_ _!_

* * *

 _" There must be some way out of here_

 _Said the joker to the thief_

 _There's too much confusion here_

 _I can't get no relief"_

 _\- U2_

* * *

" _Si no quieres aguantar_

 _y te quieres liberar._

 _una frase te diré:_

 _sólo se vive una vez._

 _si no quieres discutir_

 _y te quieres divertir,_

 _escúchame bien:_

 _sólo se vive una vez._

 _Apaga el televisor_

 _y enciende tu transistor._

 _y siente unas "cosquillitas " por los pies._

 _prepárate pa' bailar_

 _y cuenta luego hasta tres._

 _one, two, three, ¡caramba!"_

Darcy woke up, groaning, and turned off her alarm. Mondays. She hated them. Even when she started them with Azúcar Moreno.

* * *

"On your left!"

"Fuck off, Rogers," Muttered Jane breathily.

Darcy didn't even bother to add something, her mind currently occupied in keeping her body working. Her legs hurt, her side hurt, her lungs were agonizing.

Fuck training.

The day had barely started, and Central Park was almost empty. Though the weather was still warm, in the mornings you could feel the first chills of autumn in the air. Central Park was a big green and gold painting, and Darcy admired its beauty every day.

"On your left!" exclaimed Steve again, and Darcy just raised her middle finger in response.

Fifteen minutes later, Jane stopped. "I'm an... astrophysicist, not... an... agent!" She complained, sitting on the grass and resting her back on a tree, her breathing heavy.

Darcy nodded and sat down next to her. "You're an astrophysicist working for Tony Stark in Stark Tower, currently occupied by the Avengers, your boyfriend is a norse god _and_ an Avenger, and your research has nominated you for the Nobel Prize. Not to mention the fact that your boyfriend has an insane brother who may or may not want to kill you if he has the opportunity. And, of course, HYDRA agents. So I'd say that you need to train. A lot," stated Darcy nonchalantly.

Jane sighed. "I know. Crazy, right? When I started this research I was just hoping...well, I don't know, but I certainly was not expecting Thor. Or Loki. Or the Convergence."

Darcy smiled sympathetically. "I was just hoping I could get my six credits at University, and help you out a little. I still don't understand the first thing about what you do. But I was impressed when no one signed to be your assistant, I mean, besides the extra hours and the lack of sleep and having to feed you properly, your research sounded pretty cool. And I honestly didn't want to be anywhere near Professor Umbri- I mean, Johnson. That bitch is crazy and she hates me. And you. And possibly the entire world."

Jane shuddered. "Don't make me think about Professor Johnson. I really don't need her in my mind right now." Jane chewed her lip, melancholy seeping into her beautiful features. "Many things have changed."

"Many things changed in our lives _before_ Thor fell off the sky. You and I researching in the middle of the desert was not the craziest thing we have done together, dude, but we have done some amazing stuff so far."

Jane giggled and Darcy drank water from her bottle. They both knew their past was something to be treated carefully, but Darcy was right. Researching in the middle of the desert in New Mexico was just...how their friendship went on, apparently.

Darcy and Jane had been friends since kindergarten, when Jane, NASA obsessed at that moment (not that the obsession had stopped, but she just wouldn't admit it), hit Darcy in the face with a toy rocket. Darcy threw Jane her plastic T-Rex, and Jane threw herself at Darcy and started pulling at her hair. At that, Darcy slapped Jane. A little while later, both of them were nose bleeding and crying, and Darcy's parents, ashamed, were talking quietly with Jane's nanny. That day, both Darcy and Jane went home early. Darcy had the rocket in her bag, and Jane had hidden Darcy's T-Rex in her pocket.

From that day on, they were friends. Darcy had been there when Jane's father had died. Jane had been there when Darcy's grandmother had died. And they had been for each other in even darker times, times neither of them wanted to think about.

So, to Darcy, it was only natural to be there when Jane found Thor. It was only natural to be there when Thor left and Jane, broke, without research, without Erik and without Thor, had started sciencing again in her mother's apartment. Her mother, who had never even tried to care for an unwanted daughter, that had come into her life too early for her. Darcy's family had "adopted" Jane almost at first sight.

"Yeah...meeting the Avengers wasn't that bad."

Darcy opened her mouth to answer, but suddenly a voice interrupted them.

"What are you doing, soldiers?" Asked Steve, smiling but firm. He was wearing a grey t-shirt and black shorts that showed his legs in ways Darcy wasn't prepared for. She gulped down more water to not stare at him.

"We were trying to catch our breaths again before dying…" Jane said as a pathetic excuse.

"It's five and a half in the morning. Take down a notch or two there, Captain." Darcy said, pulling out her phone from her shorts pocket and staring at the screen.

"The bad guys won't stop because you are tired, Miss Lewis. Two more laps because you took an unauthorized break."

Jane and Darcy snapped their heads at him with fury in their eyes.

"The hell are you saying, Rogers?" Inquired Jane, the softness of her voice creepily contrasting with her angry face.

"Yeah, I think I misheard that." Agreed Darcy, putting her phone in her pocket again.

Steve just smiled and took off running.

"The bastard didn't just say that!"

Jane clenched her fists. "I don't know about you, but this guy's gonna pay for our future suffering. This is gonna hurt like a bitch after breakfast."

"What are you insinuating, Janey?" Darcy raised an eyebrow and smiled wickedly.

"If we catch him, we tackle him down and force him to buy us some Starbucks."

Darcy rubbed her hands, excited. "We'd better start, then."

Both of them took off at the same time, focused on their only target: Steve Motherfucking Rogers, aka Captain Spangly Pants. Jane quickly passed Darcy and gestured towards her when they saw Steve absentmindedly jogging two feet ahead of them. Darcy ran a little faster and caught up to Jane, and both of them launched forward at the same time that Steve started running even faster.

They didn't stand a chance against Captain America, of course, so both of them did the whole two laps left and were heaving and sweating by the time they finished.

"Since you seem a little tired, I will not make you run more. Tomorrow we change our route, so be prepared, because it will have some obstacles for you to manage."

Darcy looked at him enviously. He still wasn't sweating.

She was a fucking mess. Even Jane was a mess at that point. And, Darcy had it very clear, Jane was the beautiful one of their friendship.

Steve took off one more time.

"Really? again? Just have some coffee, America's Grandfather!" yelled Darcy. She and Jane walked (limped) to Stark Tower again.

And, again, some paparazzi recognized Jane and they had to take off to the security guards in the main entrance.

The Avengers Tower (the media wouldn't stop trippin' about the name) was always surrounded by journalists, freaks, and cosplayers of all kinds. Tony, always the attention slut, would come out sometimes to take selfies with them, but none of the others did. Apparently, SHIELD's falling apart had done nothing to extinguish the love of the fans for the Avengers.

Jane had been unfortunately spotted going out with Thor a couple times, and that's all it took for the journalists present there to take pictures and talk about their relationship like they knew something. That, and the fact that Jane's work had suddenly taken a lot of recognition from the science community.

Once Jane and Darcy finally got inside the Tower, Darcy went up to her room and took a shower. _It is six in the morning, why on earth would someone be there at this hour to take pictures? That is just nuts!_ She thought, humming for herself into the hot water. None of the others, not even Pepper Potts, was awake in the building. An uninterrupted silence was all Darcy could hear when she went downstairs to prepare breakfast for everyone. It was a great moment of the day, actually, and she was quite happy to do it. It was her way of giving back some of the support they had given to her and Jane. Darcy was a very good cook, and making breakfast almost always improved her mood and gave her positive vibes for the rest of the day. She entered the dark kitchen and turned on the lights only to muffle a scream against her hands.

"Sweet baby Jesus Christ!" She said shakily. "Dude, why are you here?"

Loki took his time staring at the mortal in front of him. She was wearing a deep blue knitted sweater, black trousers and some kind of black and white footwear. Her brown hair was wet and she had fuchsia lipstick on. She was pretty enough, for an ordinary mortal, and certainly not prettier than her friend, Thor's mortal, Jane Foster. He inclined his head at her.

"I was just...starting to get acquainted with the building."

Of course it was a lie. He had been there before the sunrise, unable to sleep. He had heard whisperings again, after two years of silence. He knew who was whispering in the depths of his mind.

For his surprise, she smiled at him. She had full lips and big blue eyes, and he instinctively knew she had secrets she would not tell anyone about.

That could be dangerous.

"The kitchen is a great start. Want me to make you some breakfast?" She offered, and that surprised him again. She was being awkwardly nice.

"Why?"

The mortal eyed him for a moment, pursing her lips with uncertainty.

"I make breakfast for everyone here. We usually eat together. You want some?" She repeated, but he laughed cruelly.

"I'm not having my breakfast here, mortal. I'll go to my bedchamber now."

Darcy was relieved and angry at him when he left the room without looking back. And she was also surprised. He was wearing a black shirt and grey jogging pants. Of all the crazy things she had seen in her life, including the Dark Elves, there was nothing as crazy as an evil Norse god in his pajamas.

And then a question popped up in her brain: was he eating? He was certainly skinny. His cheekbones were too sharp, and his entire body seemed...thin. Too thin. Making up her mind, Darcy made breakfast for everyone and set apart a tray with two breakfasts: latte and toast for her, coffee, toast and cheese for him. If she was going to be responsible for his wellbeing, she would do it properly.

However, Darcy left the kitchen with her heart beating wildly against her ribcage. In a very short time, she arrived at his door. Inhaling deeply, Darcy put her thumb on the fingerprint scanner and Jarvis startled her.

"Good morning, Miss Lewis."

"Hi, Jarv. Let him know I'm outside and advise him against murdering an innocent mortal girl who's here only to have breakfast." She said, successfully concealing the apprehensiveness in her voice.

"Very well, Miss Lewis."

After a few seconds, the door opened and she stepped inside, forcing her steps to seem firm.

"Hi, Horns. Brought you food." She said.

He was sitting on the black couch, in front of a turned off TV. His usual expression of superiority answered her.

Loki knew what she and everyone at SHIELD were up to. They wanted him to surrender. They sent a fragile mortal in his way, after two years of isolation, only to test him. They wanted him to confess. To show regret. To grow weak in their hands. They sent the mortal Darcy as a balm. Just like they had tried to do when he had Thanos' power in his hands and they sent the infamous Natasha Romanoff. But at least that woman was smarter than the one he was staring at right now.

Unnerved by his impassive eyes on her, Darcy set the tray on the coffee table, in front of him. When he said nothing, she clicked her tongue, exasperated.

"Can I sit down? It's gonna be kinda hard to eat my breakfast standing in front of you." Loki nodded, still staring at her. Darcy couldn't handle his heavy silence, so she decided to fill the room with her voice. "So, don't get too suspicious about me. This visit has no other purpose than to feed you, since I am your caretaker and everything. I am not here to kill you,

the food's not poisoned and you are safe, I guess, as long as you behave."

Darcy tried not to think about how scared she was,and how everything she had just said could be applied to wild animals in the zoo. She forced herself to seat at the far end of the couch, and suddenly the oxygen in the room seemed too low.

Loki observed the mortal sitting near him. She was bold, he had to give her that. He could tell she wasn't even armed or even watching him at all. Again, why would anyone send someone so fragile to "help" him? But then he noticed: her hands. When she took some toast from the tray, her hands were slightly trembling. It was the only signal of her fear. She wasn't so bold, then.

"If I may be so intrusive as to ask, Miss Lewis, where are you hiding the gun that can put me down if I...don't 'behave', as you put it?"

Darcy, who had been trying to focus more on her toast and less on his stare, jumped on her seat and almost managed to spill coffee all over her cardigan.

"Dude! The first thing you say after my explanation is 'where's your gun'? And Jesus, you've been looking at me like a creep since I entered your place, and I'm offering you food! Shouldn't you be satisfied with my sacrifice? The old Vikings did that sort of thing, didn't they?"

"The Old Vikings offered other people like sacrifice. Burned them alive. Maybe you should do the same." He suggested, his stare unwavering. Darcy eyed him unimpressed.

"Maybe to Odin they would sacrifice humans. I didn't read anything about human sacrifices made to you. And I've…"

But then Darcy realized he was not listening to her. Or even looking at her at all (which was relieving, actually). His green eyes were clouded with anger and resentment. A full minute passed in which he didn't say or did anything.

"Um...Horns? Though I am truly happy to not have you throwing shit at everyone, your coffee is growing cold and the whole point of me here is making sure you eat properly." She whispered, pointing at his mug.

Loki snapped his thoughts to the present and chastised himself for having lost his surveillance on the mortal. Pursing his lips, he took the mug and examined its contents suspiciously.

Darcy was suddenly sorry for him. Why was he like that? So...careful about everything?

"It's not poisoned, you know? It's just coffee, milk and chocolate. Just so you can start your day with a bust of sugar in your brain!" She forced herself to put a positive note on her voice.

He didn't answer (not surprising at all) and she sighed, knowing already that he wasn't about being convinced by her words only. "Just, I'll drink first, okey? Gimme that, I'll drink it."

Still silent, Loki passed her the mug and Darcy rolled her eyes and took a long sip from it. Then she gave it back to him and licked her lips. "FYI, yours is actually better than mine. It has more chocolate, though after the last twenty minutes you spent being so concentrated on yourself, it's a little cold."

"Do you ever close your mouth, mortal?" He inquired then, his low voice not menacing but bored.

Completely against her will, Darcy felt a pang on her chest. Everyone had said at some point that she should be quiet more often. Her fingers clutched the coffee tightly, but she forced a sarcastic answer from her lips.

"Not if I am talking to a paranoid dude and all he does is creepy staring."

"What makes you think that because you are talking that makes you...less vulnerable?" He asked.

Darcy snorted contemptuously."What makes you think that I can't beat your sorry ass back to prison?" She retorted, and took another sip of coffee. Loki was going to say something, but she held up her hand and, as an instinctive response, he closed his mouth. "Look, dude, drink your coffee. Again,I won't let you die from starvation under my watch, if possible."

Loki was still surprised by his reactions around her. That gesture with her hand reminded him a lot to his own...to Frigga, when she wanted to impose order whenever he and Thor were fighting. He felt betrayed by himself for answering like that to the gesture. And he wasn't going to tell her that he had barely ate anything the past years. That every meal since...the Bifrost, was like mud on his tongue. That the meals made him recall painful things, or, even worse, happier times. Moments with his...with Frigga. And Sif. Innocent times...or at least simpler. But maybe...maybe, now that he thought about it, if that beverage she had offered him had a completely strange flavour, he could actually get himself to finish it, and she would leave him alone. Tentatively, he sipped. It was warm and somehow heavy on his mouth. And the mortal was looking at him with her big blue eyes filled with expectation. Then, the flavour almost overtook his was twoo sweet, but it also had a certain bitterness, right at the end, that balanced the mix. Fortunately, it tasted nothing like the drinks in Asgard. This was quite earthy and thick. And surprisingly delicious.

"Well?" Darcy couldn't take it anymore and urged him to answer. "Come on, you're worse than an oenologist!"

Loki kept the mug near his mouth. "It is acceptable enough, for a Midgardian beverage." He wasn't going to give away his impression about it.

Darcy raised one eyebrow at him."If you haven't noticed, Midgardian beverages and Midgardian people are all you will have around for a while. Get used to it."

She was wrong. But of course he wouldn't tell her that either. He knew that someone... _something_ else was looking for him. And it wouldn't stop. At night, he could almost hear it, whispering in the back of his head, searching for him to get revenge. The thing was far too intelligent, far too ancient.

He was nothing.

* * *

After the weirdest breakfast of her life, Darcy headed to her apartment and decided to investigate a lot more into Loki's mythological background. She knew not everything in there was true, but at least she could dig in some more about him. He was a mystery, and, although she hadn't wanted to be, she was in charge of said mystery.

You could say many things about Darcy's "almost" apartment (she liked to call it that because it didn't have its own kitchen, but it did have a living room): it was filled with the widest variety of things,for a start. Thor's cape - one of the several he had- was covering her couch, a stack of old newspapers rested in disarray on the coffee table, Jane had left two telescopes there, she had a Gryffindor banner on the wall and an Avengers bedspread -thanks Tony- on her messy bed. It also had many pictures of her family and friends, scattered around on the fridge, the rest of the walls and on her nightstand. But the thing Darcy loved the most of her room was that it had space enough for her books. There were hundreds and hundreds of books in there: under the coffee table, under her bed in boxes, in piles beside her bed, on the shelves, on the couch, at the bottom of the closet. You could find everything Darcy had been interested in throughout her life. From dinosaurs to conspiracy theories and magic, and of course, political science. Some of the books were really old, and they filled the space with their smell. Darcy loved it: to her, it smelled like autumn, and past, and treasures. In all her years, her real treasure were the books she kept with her.

"You could google the whole shit, y'know." She said to herself, out loud. "But mum used to be obsessed with Norse myths, because Lord of the Rings,and some of the stuff can't be found on the internet. So, you're gonna find the books you stole from her and you're gonna read them."

Fighting the sudden urge to procrastinate, Darcy opened a box to start looking, but a knock on the door distracted her.

"Open the door, Jarv." She ordered.

After a moment, Thor came in. His gigantic frame did nothing to make him seem less "adorkable", as Darcy liked to see him as. She was aware that he was a being thousands years older than her, with experience in battle and a bit of a liking for it, yet she couldn't help but see innocence in Thor. She was sure it was something about his eyes, though.

"Good morning, Darcy." He said, grinning from ear to ear.

"'Sup, Thor?" She waved and stood up, stretching her wrinkled clothes and dusting them off.

"May I speak with you for a moment?" Thor asked, his face suddenly serious. She eyed him for a moment, interrogation in her eyes, and then nodded. Thor sighed and sat down on the couch when she invited him. "I see you have one of my capes, Darcy."

"Yeah, I used it as a blanket the other day when you left it here. You can have it back if you want, but now stop stalling and speak, Thunder Boy."

Thor scratched his head and started. "I...well, how is my brother doing so far?"

Darcy watched him compassionately. "He's...kind of an asshole. I keep waiting to be stabbed in the face while in his presence."

"His apartment has been stripped of anything resembling a weapon he could use." Thor clarified quickly.

Darcy hummed in affirmation."I figured. But you have to know this, Thor: I know nearly nothing about him, and what I know are his moments here on Earth, namely his attack in New York and his attempt at world domination. I...well, right before you came in, I was digging through my books. I have a few that deal about Norse mythology, and I was trying to collect some information about his past. Not to mock him or anything, I just want to know who I'm dealing with."

Thor smiled and shook his head."Jane has showed me some of the books about my people. Almost none of the myths are true, and they are not useful as a source of information. If you have the time, I would like to speak with you about him."

Darcy beamed. It was just what she wanted, but at the same time she didn't want to have Thor sad. It was almost unbearable to watch, like Pearl Harbor or The Notebook. It made her want to cry.

"Totally. You can start whenever you want, I'm listening." She said, and sat at the other end of the couch.

"When we were younglings, Loki was often sick. He was a fragile boy, and Mother would always be by his side, taking care of him. He learned a lot back then, he was always reading something and talking with mother about it. But after a few years his health improved a lot, and he started training for battle. He is very skilled with small weapons, such as daggers, and those kind of weapons are often seen as...something only for the ladies. I think that it's back then when he started to feel resentful towards the court and some of my friends. Mother was, again, always with him. When he grew up enough, and had a few battles already, he came one day badly injured. My father was furious. Loki had gone to battle by himself, he had no..support team, as you would call it. He had defeated the enemies, but the wound almost killed him. During all the days in which he lay in bed, my mother argued with Father and told him she was going to teach him magic. Magic is also seen as something feminine, since men are mostly warriors and farmers. Magic, house chores, art and some minor forms of battle are for women. And...well, Asgardians are not really...this open to...um...gender variations. So, many people started to avoid Loki, thinking he was...tispe." Thor visibly winced at the last word.

"T-what?" Asked Darcy. She couldn't believe what Thor was saying. He always spoke about Asgard in the highest of terms, as if there were nothing better than that. Even Jane was starting to get tired of Thor comparing Asgard to Earth.

"Tispe...a man who behaves like a girl."

"Are you saying that Asgard does not take well to the existence of gay people? Or any other variation?" Darcy's blue eyes were big as saucers.

"Um...yes. People are expected to behave in certain ways there. We live long lives, and therefore we are resistant to change. And that is the thing with Loki: you never know who you are dealing with. I realize now that the only person he ever gave his trust to was Mother. I do know he never lay with men. But a lot of women try to be from royalty, they would do anything to be part of the court. Many of them sought out Loki, and when he was young he fell for a few. Soon enough he learned how to tell the difference between them...and he chose to be permanently alone. It was either that, or humiliate them in cruel ways so they wouldn't try to come near the palace again."

Darcy chewed her lip for a moment. It was heavy info, all of it, and she needed to process some things, for example the fact that Asgardians were not actually alien perfection.

"Right. Mister Drama King has some issues, then. Like, serious ones. Now, I won't tell anyone what you have told me. But I need to know: is there a way in which I can...start to know him better? What do you think he likes?"

Thor smiled briefly, a sad smile.

"Books." He answered. "He loves books."

Then he stood up, finishing the conversation.

After Thor left, and seeing that her self-imposed task of reading about Loki in Norse myths was going to be fruitless, Darcy sat for awhile, thinking.

It appeared that Loki was going to be there, on Earth, a long time. Thor would have to visit Asgard as soon as the Avengers found Loki's sceptre -something she also shouldn't know about, but whatever- but Thor's plan did not include his brother. The team had everything planned: Loki would be locked up in his new apartment the three days Thor was going to be in Asgard - apparently Odin wanted him to honour his mother's grave in his visit - with double vigilance.

Anyways, not that the plan mattered so much. Every time the Avengers were close to finding the sceptre, the bloody thing disappeared again. Suddenly, Darcy stood up. If her task was going to be teaching an alien to look human, she was going to do it damn well and stop wasting her time thinking about possibilities. She had to remind herself about it as many times possible.

Darcy hadn't realized until then how many books she had hoarded over the years. Choosing a few favourites to give to Loki proved to be hard, and she ended up with at least fifty books and a mess in her apartment. And then, she decided something. She wouldn't give him all the books she had chosen for him. She was going to start with The Hobbit. If Loki didn't like The Hobbit, then he was lost forever. The book wasn't really long, and what seemed like light and panic at the beginning left a powerful message at the end; all the adventures that you might have, all the things get you out of your comfort zone change you forever, some for good, some for bad, but Bilbo was not the same when he went back to his home in The Shire. He had found the Ring, he had lost some friends, he had learned. Gathering her wits for yet another moment with Loki, Darcy clutched the book between her fingers and headed out the door.

Loki was pacing the apartment in silence when the Jarvis robot announced that the human girl was there once again. The robot opened the door and she came in, her hands hidden behind her back.

"Hi, king of nerds." She greeted.

He didn't know what "nerds" meant, but her face showed no hostility. Loki also expected her to add something else, but she just stood there, waiting for him to say something.

"Afternoon, mortal."

"Thanks for reminding me that I'll be dead in a few years. I see you're wearing indoor earth clothing!" She exclaimed, smiling and enthusiastic. Loki wondered why was she so cheerful that day. So bloody cheerful. "They fit you well!"

It was true. He was wearing black jogging pants, and a grey t-shirt, along with black tennis shoes. His lean and long body seem less dangerous dressed like that, and even when she knew she shouldn't have noticed, he was rather handsome.

Loki shifted his weight under her stare, and she snapped out of it. Smiling again, she extended her hands to him. She had a book between them.

"I brought you this. I know you like to read."

"How is it that you know anything about me?" He asked, suddenly suspicious. Darcy rolled her eyes, disbelievingly. She knew she couldn't just go and say that Thor had told her, because then her friend would be in trouble. She went for a half truth.

"I saw you trying not to stare too much at the libraries we passed when we went to the hairdresser." she smirked.

Loki fixed her eyes on her, but Darcy didn't mind.

"I do not stare." He finally stated.

"I do not like coffee." She retorted and moved the book, as if saying "just take it, man."

And Loki took it.

Darcy's soft eyes were still on the book when she talked, suddenly feeling shy.

"It is one of my favourites. If you like it, I can borrow you the rest of them, the author has many." She raised her eyes and searched his face, coming back to the present. "Let me know what you think when you finish it! I'll let you read!" And with that, she waved, turned around and left him.

Loki flipped the pages with his long, pale fingers. She hadn't told him anything about the book, but he could see she had read it many times. The pages were yellow, and some sentences had been underlined with black pencil. It smelled a little like the library at the palace of Asgard, but much more like the old stores he explored to find new books. This book had been cherished.

It had poems in it. He had come across few books with poetry and prose at the same time.

Then he found one sentence, remarked twice with the same black pencil. As if the mortal girl had had the need to mark it as very important. Something she didn't want to forget.

" _There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West."_

Loki blinked. Refraining himself from reading more, since that phrase was almost at the end, he went to the beginning of the book and started it.

Two hours later, Loki had finished reading. He closed the book, his thoughts far away. His mind, desperately in need of a distraction after years and years of circling around the same memories, started thinking.

* * *

It was late in the night when Darcy was awakened by Jarvis.

"Miss Lewis, please wake up." Said the robot.

Darcy barely opened her eyes.

"The hell, R2D2?" she groaned.

"I'm sorry, Miss Lewis, but Lucas Dickson has required your presence. Apparently it is an urgent matter."

"What?" Darcy dragged herself off the bed as fast as she could. Muttering a stream of curses under her breath, she put on her bra, grabbed her glasses from the night table and fished her taser out from her purse. Then she went to Loki's apartment, after smoothing her white t-shirt and gray pajamas shorts.

Jarvis opened the door to her worried expression, and she entered, immediately searching for the danger, ready to tase the hell out of it. But Loki was just sitting on the couch, completely calm and cool as a cucumber.

"Um...where or what is the "urgent matter" Jarvis told me about?" She asked after a moment still scanning the room.

"I finished the book." He said, smugness in his tone. "You told me to let you know, didn't you?"

Darcy's brain, still in the haze of sleep, didn't catch up until moments later.

"You mean you're ok?"

"You could say so, yes, mortal. You don't need to put me down. Yet."

Darcy eyed her taser with weary eyes. She could always use it on herself. Fast sleep, right? She lowered the weapon and spoke.

"It doesn't look like you can't hold your own in a fight, no matter if they haven't been feeding you properly for the past years. Nonetheless, I brought this thing here to protect you, not to put you down."

"Why?" He inquired, one eyebrow raised. "I've killed humans. Why not seeking to hurt me...as a punishment?"

Darcy wondered briefly when the guy was going to stop asking the "whys" of everything. What was he, a three year old? No, Jimmy, I do not have the answer to why the black holes are black!

Coming back to the present, she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

"First: If I were to judge you for killing humans, I would be out of my place. I am a babysitter, apparently, not a judge. It is not my duty. Second, I live with an ex weapons of mass destruction dealer, two assassins, a dude that gets annoyed and becomes a giant green dude with anger issues, and lots of agents of S.H.I.E.L.D that have killed. So yeah, they told me you will be trying to be in your best behaviour from now on. Third, I do not kill. Ever. And four, have you seen yourself? You're your own punishment." He glowered, but said nothing. "You don't need more from me, thank you very much. And lastly you and I are here because somebody decided it was going to be the best, apparently for you. So whatever, I'm here to help you. I don't have any ulterior motives, are we clear?"

She stared at him, scolding in her features, eyebrows raised and mildly wild hair all around her face. It was...strangely appealing. Though that may have to do with the garments she was wearing, and, above all, his lack of women the past years. Even so, no woman in Asgard would wear such a thing to sleep in front of another, or alone.

"Clear as water." He didn't smirk, and Darcy considered it a success. That little shit's ever present smirk was starting to get on her nerves. Darcy spoke firmly.

"Well, fan-fucking-tastic. I'm gonna go to bed now, if you don't mind." She turned around to leave, but then she remember. When she faced him again, her expression had changed once again. She was smiling enthusiastically and her blue eyes were soft and bright. "So? Did you like the book? That's why you told me something was up at three in the morning, right? How was it?" A nervousness he hadn't seen before sipped into her eyes at the question. Why did she care so much? he wondered.

"It is a story for children." He stated. Her expression grew quickly disappointed, but he went on. "However… it could have been worse."

Her face lit up again. It was strange, watching her features change that much. No one did it. Not near him.

Darcy closed the door and left him staring at the empty space previously occupied by her. He didn't have more books to distract himself, only the one she had provided him with. After those years in prison, he craved for more. He wanted to read more. About anything she had to offer him. Anything. It didn't really matter if they were good or bad. Any distraction would be welcomed.

Back in her bed, Darcy was wide awake. She tossed and turned and somehow managed to get entangled in her sheets -not a surprise. An hour and a half later, she stood up, unable to sleep. She went to the kitchen again, heated up some milk and drank it there, in the dark empty place. Minutes later, she was at the door again.

And then, she heard it.

Right across her apartment, he, who must not be named, the Liesmith, the Silvertongue...was whimpering like a wounded animal. Nightmares.

The sound went straight to her chest, and filled it with unwanted sympathy. What could she do for someone like him?

Darcy didn't know the name for his mental illness. Hell, maybe he was only having a nightmare. But she didn't want to wake him up. She knew damn well that if he was having PTSD she could only send him to a therapist. The question was, could he open himself to a therapist? She didn't think so. And hell, she could be a lot of things, but never a therapist. What he needed...was friends. People who accepted him. People who trusted him and people he could trust in return. Pretty impossible for someone whose nickname was god of lies, and with bigger trust issues than Fury.

But she could try. After all, she had become friends with the Black Widow. How hard could it be?

Sighing, Darcy entered her apartment and closed the door, silencing Loki's nightmares in doing so.


End file.
